Serial multiple mediators in the relationship between symptom burden and sleep quality among patients with heart...

Sleep disturbance is common in patients with heart failure. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of sleep disturbance in patients with heart failure, and to examine the serial multiple mediation effects of psychological distress and sleep hygiene practices on the relationship between symptom burden and sleep quality.

We recruited eligible heart failure patients in a large, university-affiliated hospital in Shandong Province, China, from November 2018 to June 2019. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Heart Failure Somatic Perception Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale were used to assess patients' sleep quality, symptom burden, psychological distress, and sleep hygiene practices. The mediation effects were analyzed using the PROCESS tool in SPSS.

Two hundred and thirty seven heart failure patients were included in the final analyses. Among these patients, 189 patients (67.1%) had a sleep disturbance (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score of >5). Higher symptom burden, higher level of psychological distress, and poorer sleep hygiene practices were associated with patients' poorer sleep quality. The psychological distress and sleep hygiene practices had mediation effects on the relationship between symptom burden and sleep quality in patients with heart failure.

Patients' symptom burden could affect their sleep quality through psychological distress and sleep hygiene practices besides a direct effect. Thus, psychological distress and sleep hygiene practices should be fully considered in the development of interventions to improve patients' sleep quality, apart from alleviating patients' symptom burden.